First Meetings
by Shinigami-san
Summary: Another harsh day during the early life of Uzumaki Naruto, the young boy meets a future teammate on a sunny Sunday morning.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, any of its characters, blah blah.  
  
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A soft sigh left the young blond boys lips, as he stared out across the children filled park. The lonely boy named Uzumaki Naruto watched as kids his age played, smiled, and had fun on this sunny, bright Sunday morning. The usual sneers, and leers from the parents commenced not long after Naruto sat himself upon a small bench. This was his usual Sunday, if not weekend, habit. Even if he failed at school, it was an escape from the eyes... the cold eyes all the adults of the village seemed to give him. Why did he bother to come out here every weekend? He didn't feel too alone, seeing the kids of his age about him having fun... but the parents always quickly ruined this little sense of security for the not even 9-year-old Naruto.  
  
"There he is, that punk kid" one passerby said to his friend, their eyes marked on the young boy as they passed by the bench the young Naruto sat.  
  
"Don't look directly at him!" one mother called out, covering her child's eyes quickly as she hid the child from Naruto's view.  
  
This was the usual behavior he saw everyday... what had he done? He wondered a lot, what he had ever done to deserve such hate, such disdain. Leaning a bit more forward, resting his forearms on his knees, he tugged at the hems of his shorts a bit as she sighed again, feeling that usual trembling feeling in the pit of his stomach, and that urge... that urge to let all his emotions loose and just cry already. How many times had he resisted this urge since he realized how much everyone hated him? He long since lost count he thought, as he groaned, shaking his head and swallowing, his neck bulging from the huge gulp as the feeling passed.  
  
As he was beginning to stand, to return to his lonely home, and sleep his day away, waiting for Monday's classes to begin, he heard the sound of a person sitting to his side. His hands already deep into his pockets, he turned to see a girl, probably around his age, with short pink hair. Naruto immediately found himself blushing as he stared at the girl, coughing a bit, which snapped the girl into attention, turning her head as the bow in her hair and the bangs in her light pink hair swayed slightly in the Sunday morning breeze.  
  
"... what?" She asked quietly after awhile of the boys staring, giving Naruto a strange look as she rested her hands in her lap, tilting her head a bit curiously as she looked at him.  
  
"Ah... um... nothing..." Naruto let out shyly, smirking a bit as he laughed nervously, raising a hand to rub the back of his head a little nervously. The young Naruto didn't interact much with kids his age, let alone cute girls! He had no idea how to react to her staring right back at him, the pink-haired girl continuing to give him a weird look.  
  
"Then why do you keep staring at me?" She asked relatively bluntly, her features slowly turning from curious-ness to a hint of annoyance as she leaned back into the bench. He noticeably blushed a bit more, shrugging his shoulders a bit as he put up his usual facade, just for good measure.  
  
"I... I was just wondering what a little girl was doing out here all alone! It's not safe, even in broad daylight, y'know?" He let out, laughing a bit more nervously as he continued to blush; seeing the girls face get even more covered in her annoyance, as she sighed heavily, shaking her head a bit as she snubbed him, just a bit. She began blushing a bit herself in embarrassment as she looked off into a bunch of trees to the side of the open field of the park. She was waiting to be picked up by her mother... but she didn't bother to tell him this.  
  
"You must be that Naruto kid..." she let out softly, huffing a bit as she continued looking to the side.  
  
"...? How'd you know? Well, I am pretty popular at school for my good looks. Heheheh." He let out, raising a hand to scratch at his cheek a little bit, still just SLIGHTLY blushing as he watched the pink haired girl and waited for a response.  
  
"My mom told me you were the rudest and most obnoxious kid in the village," she said, flatly, as she looked back at him to see his expression to have faltered, which he quickly composed, showing a cocky grin as he folded his arms across his chest, shrugging his shoulders a bit as he did so.  
  
"Hmph! Well, you know my name, what's yours?" He asked, pushing his insulted feeling aside, as he opened one of his eyes, looking at her from the corner of his eye.  
  
"Sakura" she let out with no problem or hesitation, still looking at him for awhile until a middle-aged woman approached the both of them, giving Naruto the usual glare all of parents and adults of the village gave, as she took Sakura's hand roughly, tugging her up to her feet as she gave Naruto one last look, filled with resentment, as she lead her daughter away. Sakura was tugged along without a word or a debate, although she offered one last curious gaze, looking over her shoulder at Naruto one last time, wondering why her mother hated Naruto so bad... he didn't seem like that bad of a guy... a rude loudmouth maybe, but not all bad...  
  
"... bah. Oh well." Naruto let out, sticking his tongue out to the older woman's back as he glared, raising a hand to flip her off before turning around, sliding his hands back into his pockets as he began on his way home. The conversation with this Sakura girl had actually cheered him up a bit, for some reason. Thinking of the girl made him blush just slightly, as he smirked a bit to himself, musing quietly to himself as he continued along.  
  
"Really cute... kinda big forehead though..."  
  
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*Author's Note: This is the first fanfic I've written in about two years, so if it's bad, sorry. ^^; Just a short one-shot to practice a bit, and get back into the flow. Hope to be writing more and improving soon. ^_^ Also, the characters may be a little OOC(I think at this point in the timeline, Sakura should be shyer, but I wasn't exactly sure on how to go about it). 


End file.
